The third-ranked Princeton open women's rowing team moved to 3-0 on the season and improved its Ivy League win streak to 25 with a victory of more than 11 seconds over Columbia Saturday morning on Overpeck Lake.

Princeton won the varsity eight competition in 7:08.38, while 16th-ranked Columbia finished in 7:19.92. While the Tigers had about a length of open water lead through 1500 meters, the race was broken open when Columbia hit a buoy and came to a near stop.

"We had an extremely aggressive piece and executed our race plan, racing hard together," said junior coxswain Annie Prasad. "It was difficult conditions, but I was especially proud of how responsive my crew was and how we handled the cross wind. We were really able to come together as an eight."

"We had a solid race and fought hard together, but we are always looking for ways to get faster," added senior Liz Hartwig. "We're excited to get back on the water this week and find more speed."

The win built on a strong performance in the season opener last weekend, when the Tigers defeated Ohio State, currently ranked fourth nationally, and Brown.

"We feel this is a step up overall, as every race is moving through the season, as we get more experience under our belts," Prasad said. "Being 110 percent focused is something we strive for as a team, and I think we excelled in that today."

The victory was one of four during a perfect day for the Tigers, who scored wins in the second varsity (7:31.63), the varsity four (8:01.54), and the varsity four B (8:56.42). The varsity fours had the toughest test of the day, but still managed to win by more than two seconds.

Princeton will continue a three-race road trip next weekend when it heads to the Cayuga Inlet to take on both Cornell and Harvard for the Class of 1975 Cup.

"All of our races are important opportunities," Hartwig said. "We line up each weekend to see what we can do, and to see how we match up to our Ivy League competitors. We use each race as a learning experience, whether we win or lose, and we hope to use each race this season as a stepping stone toward our bigger team goals."